title: Sparse canonical correlation analysis relates network-level atrophy to multivariate cognitive measures in a neurodegenerative population.
abstract: This study establishes that sparse canonical correlation analysis (SCCAN) identifies generalizable, structural MRI-derived cortical networks that relate to five distinct categories of cognition. We obtain multivariate psychometrics from the domain-specific sub-scales of the Philadelphia Brief Assessment of Cognition (PBAC). By using a training and separate testing stage, we find that PBAC-defined cognitive domains of language, visuospatial functioning, episodic memory, executive control, and social functioning correlate with unique and distributed areas of gray matter (GM). In contrast, a parallel univariate framework fails to identify, from the training data, regions that are also significant in the left-out test dataset. The cohort includes164 patients with Alzheimer's disease, behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia, semantic variant primary progressive aphasia, non-fluent/agrammatic primary progressive aphasia, or corticobasal syndrome. The analysis is implemented with open-source software for which we provide examples in the text. In conclusion, we show that multivariate techniques identify biologically-plausible brain regions supporting specific cognitive domains. The findings are identified in training data and confirmed in test data.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Brian B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Avants
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Libon
authors.forename: Katya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rascovsky
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boller
authors.forename: Corey T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: McMillan
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Massimo
authors.forename: H Branch
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Coslett
authors.forename: Anjan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
authors.forename: Rachel G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Gross
authors.forename: Murray
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grossman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001284:Atrophy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests
keywords: Alzheimer disease; Frontotemporal lobar degeneration; MRI; PBAC; Philadelphia Brief Assessment of Cognition; Sparse canonical correlation analysis